The Next Train
by gunsandflames
Summary: 16 year old Roy awakens early on a cold winter morning to find Riza leaving the house with a suitcase in hand. He must convince her not to run away from home.


The Next Train

Author's Note: My first fan fiction ever! Special thanks to Seriadne for beta reading this! You are amazing and wonderful :D And happy Valentine's Day everyone! Enjoy!

It was just past six in the morning when sixteen year old Roy Mustang was awoken from his otherwise peaceful sleep. Ever since he had moved into the Hawkeye household as Master Hawkeye's apprentice, he had been a light sleeper, waking up at the smallest noises. He wasn't sure what exactly had woken him up, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary in his room he turned over, closed his eyes, and tried to fall back asleep.

A creaking noise sounded and he immediately opened his eyes. Another creak and another, each one getting increasingly quieter. _Is someone going down the stairs? No one in the Hawkeye house is ever up this early._

Quickly and quietly, Roy crept towards his bedroom door and opened it. In the distance he heard the front door open and then close shut. Then only quiet.

Roy looked towards the bedroom window and could see someone leaving the house. They were carrying a brown, square suitcase in one hand and the other hand was pulling their black coat tighter around them as the falling snow chilled them. He saw the figure turn and realized he recognized them. It was the master's daughter, Riza. She had a look of determination on her face as she looked at the house, apparently not seeing Roy.

_What is she doing, going out so early and with a suitcase no less? If she's taking a suitcase with her, then she's probably planning on going somewhere overnight. And if that's the case, then surely I would have heard about it._ He tried to think back and see if he could remember his sensei mentioning anything. Nothing came to him. He wondered if she had at least told her father she was leaving. _If she is leaving for somewhere and is intending on staying there over night and she didn't tell her father, then could that mean..._

Without another thought, Roy hurriedly put on his winter boots and threw on his coat over his pajamas. He ran down the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could, as to not wake Hawkeye Sensei.

He went out the front door and quietly pulled it shut behind him. It was freezing outside! He too pulled his coat tighter around him. He looked around him for Riza but she was already gone. He tucked his chin down as his neck was getting cold. He just stood there a moment, looking down at the ground, wondering what he should do next. _Should I wake Hawkeye Sensei? Maybe Riza would be safe, but I don't want to get her in trouble or make Sensei mad. But then again, who said Riza is actually in any danger? Where could she possibly be going at this hour and in this weather? She wouldn't really just up and leave, would she?_ That's when he noticed that thanks to the freshly fallen snow, Riza had unknowingly made a path of footprints. He followed them.

The snow wasn't too deep but it was starting to cling to the bottom of his pajama pants and soaking through his shoes. In his haste to find Riza he had taken the shoes closest to the door rather than his winter boots. He knew he looked ridiculous trudging through the snow the way he was dressed, but it wasn't exactly his top priority to look fashionable under the circumstances. His ears stared to go numb and he shoved his hands in his pockets to keep them from freezing.

Just as he was sure his ears were going to fall off, He found himself going up the steps of a train station platform. He looked around and saw someone sitting on the bench with their head tucked down holding tightly to the brown, square suitcase sitting on their lap. It was the same person he had seen leaving the house.

He stood there for a few minutes, simply watching her and trying to figure out why she was there. He barely noticed as the cold whipped at his face and chilled his neck. Why was she waiting for the train? Where was she going? His heart sped up as he realized there was a very simple answer to the question, one that he didn't particularly like. Well, there was only one way to find out the truth.

He walked over to the bench and stood beside her. "Hey Riza! Fancy meeting you here!" he greeted her with the biggest smile he could muster.

Riza jumped at his voice. "M-Mister Mustang! What are you doing here?"

Roy plopped down on the bench beside her. "I was just taking a walk when I saw you sitting here, so I thought I'd say hi."

"A walk at six in the morning?" she questioned, a frown present on her face.

"Yeah, why not?" he answered cheerfully. "It's a beautiful morning."

She sighed and once again looked towards her lap. " Fine, don't tell me." She squeezed her suitcase tighter to her chest.

Roy allowed a smirk to cross his face. There was a period of silence between the two of them before Roy felt he should confront her on her motives.

"So..." Roy started, "Why are you up so early?"

He saw her stiffen, but she didn't reply.

"And why are we sitting at a train station?"

"Well you followed me here," she retorted. He could see her visibly getting more annoyed at him for questioning her when she obviously wasn't interested in answering any of his questions.

"Who said anything about following you! I was merely taking a morning walk."

She let out a sigh of frustration. Roy waited for her to say something more, but she didn't. He was getting increasingly more worried the way she was not answering him. It would have been better if she would at least talk to him rather than just staying silent.

"Where are you going?" Roy asked bluntly.

"Does it matter?" she said looking away and clutching her suitcase tighter.

"What do you mean? Of course it does! You can't just leave and not tell anybody!"

"Why not!?" She practically yelled at him "What do I possibly have left here!? I don't have any friends; in fact most of the people at school are mean to me. My father couldn't care less about me, unless it pertains to the up keeping of the house, and you!" she yelled, tears forming in her eyes but not spilling over, "You're the closest thing I have to a friend and I barely know you."

He looked back at her. He could see all the pent up frustration and loneliness she had been holding inside for quite some time now. He had only moved into the Hawkeye household about three months ago, but he had been able to talk to Riza a few times. Riza had always seemed to be something of a mystery to him. From what he could tell she never really smiled and always used formalities. He never saw her talking with her father, unless it was her father asking her to do something. He wanted to learn more about her and at the beginning of his apprenticeship, he had. He had found out that she liked to read, she loved tea with honey, her favorite part of maintaining the household had been going to the market place, and her favorite color was green. He had found different times throughout his studying to talk to her.

However, Hawkeye Sensei had noticed how Riza was distracting him, and so he made sure Roy barely got the opportunity to talk to her. For the last few months he hadn't really been able to talk to her. He would try to sneak away but would always end up getting caught. He felt guilty that he hadn't been able to build a stronger relationship with her. All he wanted to do was to build that relationship, but if Riza continued on with her plans, he wouldn't get the chance.

"What do you want to know about me? Go ahead, ask me anything!" he said confidently.

"Mister Mustang..." she said looking back down at her suitcase and shaking her head sadly.

"Fine, I'll just tell you about me then," he said. He leaned back onto the bench. "Starting from the beginning, my name's Roy Mustang. I know I've told you this before but you can call me Roy you know. Mister Mustang's just too formal for friends, don't you think?"

"Friends, huh?" she replied. Her voice was muffled as she still had her head down and she was talking into her shirt.

"Yeah friends!" Roy laughed. "So anyway, Roy Mustang, sixteen years old, only child, my favorite color's red, let's see, what else... I like playing games and I'm pretty competitive. I love the snow, even though most people dislike it..."

"Why?" Riza asked.

"Huh? Why what?"

"Why don't people like the snow?"

"Well, most people overlook its beauty I guess and just see it as cold or annoying." He held out his hand in front of himself, trying to catch a few snowflakes. "They look at it and think about how they'll have to walk slower than usual so they won't fall down and they think about how they'll have to shovel. Not many people see the snow for what it is anymore; something rare and beautiful." He smiled then, his whole face relaxing as he stared at his hand. "And the best part about snow is that each snowflake is different. Sure they're all made of frozen water and from a distance they all look the same, but if you look close, each one's unique. See?"

He held out his coat sleeve to her. She lifted her head and looked at the snowflakes sitting on the black cotton of his coat. There were a lot of them but she could see some subtle differences in each one.

"Riza, you can't leave." She looked up to find him intently staring at her.

"I can and I am, Mister Mustang." She said it coldly; she needed to.

"But Riza..."

"No," she said simply. "I will not allow you to try and talk me out of this. I'm leaving and that's final."

"Riza," he tried again.

"No! Promise you won't try and tell me to stay. Promise me!"

Roy paused for a moment, thinking it over and what he could possibly say. He couldn't refuse her. He wasn't sure why it was, but he couldn't possibly deny her any of her requests, even though he very much wanted to.

"Fine," he whispered. "But if you leave I'm going to miss you a lot. I was hoping to get to know you better."

"That's too bad." she conceded, still looking forward.

Well, that wasn't working. He decided to try a new tactic.

"It doesn't snow here vey often. It's wonderful."

"It sure is."

"How many trains are leaving from here today?"

"Eight I think."

"Huh. And they come everyday of the week, correct?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Just making an observation. I can't remember the last time it snowed."

She smiled at his scattered logic. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized it was one of the things she had come to like about him.

"Anyways, I should get going," Roy said as he stood up. Riza looked up at him and for a split second, she let the hurt show in her eyes, but she covered it up at once, replacing it with determination.

"Of course, it was nice to see you, Mister Mustang."

"You too, have a nice journey." And with those words, he left the platform. Riza put her head down once again and closed her eyes tightly. She could hear a train whistle in the background. This was it.

Her head snapped up when she felt something cold hit her on the side of her face. She gasped in surprise. She gasped and held a hand to her cheek.

"Got ya!" she heard Roy call out from the side of the platform. She looked over to see him bent over laughing.

"Roy!" she shouted angrily. Now she was going to be cold and wet for the whole train ride!

Roy regained his composure. "Whatcha gonna do about it, huh? I doubt your aim's any good."

"I have really good aim! When I have free time, I go out in the woods and try to hit targets with a slingshot I made!"

"Oh yeah? If you're such a good shot, then prove it!" With that, he sprinted down the steps of the platform and started running towards the direction of the Hawkeye household.

Riza hesitated. She looked at the train tracks and saw the train was arriving at the station. The train came to a stop and a few seconds later the doors opened in front of her. She looked between the train, ready for boarding, and Roy's retreating form. There would be plenty of trains coming and going to Central all day; all week in fact. And when was the last time she got to play in the snow anyways? And she couldn't leave without first putting Roy in his place.

She bent down, gathering a lump of snow in her hands before running off the platform, leaving her suitcase entirely and barely registering the sound of closing doors behind her.


End file.
